


Supermarket Flowers

by rosieeexox



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Cemetery, Dead Claudia Stilinski, Dead Hales, Emotional Healing, Everyone is Dead, M/M, One Shot, Petty Theft, Short One Shot, The fire happened, Unintentional Thief Stiles Stilinski, gardener derek, let me start this off by saying that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-29
Updated: 2018-01-29
Packaged: 2019-03-11 04:59:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13517061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosieeexox/pseuds/rosieeexox
Summary: Prompt from a post I saw on Tumblr that I lost as soon as my app refreshed so I had to improvise but all I remember is that someone is stealing flowers from a garden and the person catches them, thinks they’re for a girl, but they’re really for a grave idk lets get some sadness up in here.





	Supermarket Flowers

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from the Ed Sheeran song. Huge giveaway to the plot and yes I did listen to the song on repeat and cry my way through writing this. Happy Monday!!

Stiles was eight when his mom got sick. He came home from school one day to find his neighbor waiting on the front porch, ready to take him to the hospital. They thought it was the flu, which it technically was. But it was the lymphoma attacking her immune system that got her the flu in the first place.

Stiles was ten when his mom died. To Stiles, it felt like almost no time at all had passed since she was first diagnosed. But that probably has to do with the anxiety medication the therapist put him on to help him cope with his mom’s sickness. He remembers his mom, sure, but the time frame is a little fuzzy. What felt like weeks of his mom in and out of the hospital was actually two years. It makes coping a little harder.

Stiles was fifteen when he started walking home from school. Scott, who was a few months older and already had his drivers permit, always offered to drive him home, but he’d rather walk. Sometimes Scott offered to walk with him, but Stiles liked to walk home alone. Eventually Scott figured out it was because he took a detour and visited the cemetery on his way home. He’d spend an hour or two at his mom’s grave, telling her about his day and assuring her that dad was doing okay. He didn’t tell her that he was still drinking, or that he wasn’t technically Sheriff anymore. Stiles wasn’t really sure how the afterlife worked, but he hopes his mom didn’t know he was lying to her. She used to tell him that a lie to protect someone you loved was usually okay. 

Stiles is seventeen when he finds a new route to the cemetery. It’s his favorite route because he can pass by the abandoned house on Main Street with the huge garden out front. He plucks a few flowers each day to leave at his mom’s grave and it makes him feel better to see the colorful flowers surrounding the dull, grey headstone. He also started letting Scott come with him on days he didn’t have lacrosse practice after school. His mom always loved Scott and he figured it wasn’t fair to keep excluding him. They’re finally able to tell his mom the truth about Stiles’ dad. He’s two months sober and was reinstated as Sheriff. It feels nice to not have to lie to her anymore.

It’s a Friday when Stiles is walking home from school. Him and Scott have big plans for the weekend. The new Call of Duty came out and they’re going to stay up all night playing it. He’s walking past the abandoned house on Main Street and absentmindedly plucks some lilies from their flower bed. He’s about to reach for a daisy, his mom’s favorite, when a voice startles him.

“Hey!” Stiles jumps, dropping the flowers to the ground. “So you’re the one that’s been stealing my flowers.” The stranger is standing at the front door of the house. Stiles drags his eyes up the man’s body, not so subtly checking him out as he goes.

The first thing he noticed is that the guy isn’t wearing shoes, which means he probably lives there, which means the house is almost definitely not abandoned. Oops. The second thing he notices is that the guy is  _ huge.  _ Not only tall; hat least a few inches taller than Stiles, who stands at an impressive five foot ten. But he’s also, like, ripped; taking up practically the entire door frame. He’s not bad to look at. In fact, if Stiles had a type, it would be this guy down to a T. Besides the muscles, he’s wearing a Deadpool t-shirt. And the shining green eyes are definitely not a turn off either.

Stiles realizes he’s been staring and the stranger is looking at him expectantly. He should probably say something.

“Uh, what?” Very eloquent, Stiles. Way to go.

“I’m just assuming,” The stranger says, stepping down out of the doorway. “That you’re the one that’s been stealing my flowers.”

“Yeah, sorry. I thought nobody lived here.”

“Who did you think was keeping up the garden then?” The stranger asks, raising a very expressive eyebrow. It’s a valid question.

“The, uh, community?” The words sound stupid even to him.

The stranger chuckles. “Nope, just me. Glad I finally found the culprit, though. My poor daisies can’t take much more abuse.”

“Sorry.” Stiles repeats. “I just-”

“Who’s the lucky lady?”

“What?”

“Well I’m not going to assume you’ve been stealing my flowers for yourself.”

“No, I-”

“Come on, then.”

“What?” Stiles’ head is spinning.

“Grab some flowers and let’s go see her. I’d like to meet whatever girl is pretty enough to warrant the theft and destruction of my flower garden.”

Stiles can’t think of anything to say, which is a first for him, honestly. The guy is even hotter up close. Between that and the blatant misunderstanding, Stiles isn’t sure he’d be able to talk himself out of this one. He nods dumbly and picks up the fallen lilies, a few daisies, and a rose for good measure.

They walk silently. It’s not awkward except for the fact that this guy has no idea they’re on their way to a graveyard and not some pretty blonde’s house. Stiles is somewhat thankful for that, though. There’s no way his imaginary girlfriend would stay with him after he showed up to her house with the hottest guy Stiles has ever seen. Maybe that’s this dudes plan. Stiles stole his flowers, so he’s going to steal Stiles’ girl. He’s gonna be in for a real treat when he finds out they’re visiting his mom’s grave  _ and  _ Stiles is gay.

The cemetery is only a few blocks from the not-so-abandoned house. They arrive before Stiles can think of a plan or an explanation that doesn’t sound as dumb as he feels. When Stiles stops in front of the entrance to the cemetery, the stranger looks at him. It’s not with pity, or regret, or anything like what he normally sees when people look at him. He almost looks understanding. 

“My mom.” Stiles explains, his voice soft 

“Mine, too.” The stranger explains, and it’s the first time Stiles has seen his confidence falter.

Stiles relaxes a bit and makes his way in the all too familiar direction. He stops in front of the gravestone marked with his mom’s name, the flowers from yesterday and the day before still scattered around it. The stranger keeps walking, but stops a few rows away. 

Stiles decides to give him some privacy and turns to sit so that he’s facing the opposite way. 

“This is the weirdest first date I’ve ever been on.” He tells his mom. “But he’s pretty hot so I’m counting it as a win. This is also the most interesting thing to happen to me all week, get this. That guy over there, I guess I should probably ask him his name, he owns the garden I’ve been taking flowers from. So you can thank him for the last few months’ supply of flowers. I’ll get you his name so you can send him a letter.” Stiles chuckles to himself. “Alright, it looks like he’s finishing up so I’m gonna go. I’ll be back on Monday to give you some juicy updates on date number two. Love you.” He traces his mom’s name on the gravestone with the tips of his fingers before he makes his way over to where the victim of his petty theft is sitting.

Stiles’ breath catches in his throat at the familiar names on the gravestone in front of him. 

“You’re…”

“Derek Hale, yeah.” The stranger, Derek, says.

There’s a pang of sympathy in Stiles’ chest. Stiles lost his mother but Derek lost his whole family all at once. The fire was a few months after Stiles’ mom had died. 

He was young, and his dad wasn’t very involved with the case, but he remembered hearing about it. Derek and his older sister, Laura, were out grabbing some last minute ingredients for dinner when they came back to see their entire house in flames. Laura ran inside to see if anyone was still alive, but she never came back out. 

Stiles puts his hand on Derek’s shoulder, doing his best to console him. 

“Daisies were my mom’s favorite.” Stiles explains, putting a single daisy on the lone gravestone with a long list of names. No bodies were ever recovered from the fire.

“Thanks.” Derek’s voice is barely a whisper. “No one’s ever...I haven’t…”

“It took me six years after my mom died to let my best friend come with me.”

Derek smiles at him. It’s sad, but in a way that Stiles knows is because both of them have lost people they love. 

“I told my mom this was the weirdest first date I’ve ever been on.”

Stiles can’t help but laugh. “Me, too.”

“I think tomorrow maybe we should go somewhere a little less depressing.” Derek says, standing up and brushing off his pants.

“How do you feel about pizza?”

“As long as there’s no peppers on it, very positively.”

“Do you want to pick me up at 8?”

“Sure.” Derek smiles. “But I need your address. And your name.”

Stiles laughs again, louder this time, and he feels his face redden. “Stiles.”

“As in Stiles Stilinski, the Sheriff’s son?”

“Don’t tell me you’re in trouble with the law.” Stiles groans, wondering how he’s going to tell his dad he’s dating a felon.

“No, no.” Derek assures him, laughing. “I’m actually training to be a police officer so I’ve been working with your dad the last few weeks. He talks about you a lot.”

“Terrible things, I’m sure.”

Derek laughs and shakes his head. “Nah, but he was right about you getting yourself into trouble. Just wait until I tell him you’ve been stealing from me.”

“Don’t you dare.” Stiles threatens, putting on his best scowl.

“Walk me home and I’ll keep your secret.”

 

Stiles walks Derek home. At some point their hands intertwine. Stiles doesn’t know who grabbed who’s hands, just remembers feeling like his hand was being pulled towards Derek’s, like magnets, and then suddenly there was a warm hand in his. They get to Derek’s front porch and Stiles realizes he doesn’t want to say goodbye yet.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.” Derek assures him, reading Stiles’ mind.

They exchange numbers and Derek chuckles at the ridiculous amount of emojis Stiles put next to his name in Derek’s phone.

Stiles walks the few blocks back to his house with the biggest, dumbest smile on his face. 

 

It doesn’t happen right away, but eventually, slowly, they both start to heal. They heal each other, they heal themselves, and they make sure there are plenty of flowers in Derek’s garden to take with them on their visits to the cemetery. It doesn’t get easier, because nothing about losing your family is ever easy, but it does get less lonely.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos :)
> 
> reblob if u crei


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